Stern-Gerlach Experiment’s Interpretations and Noether’s Theorem

In this paper we suggest that theories treating two interacting objects in a different manner (for instance electromagnetic field of a laser classically, and the interacting atom as a quantum object) should be called “mixed”. Mixed theories are not so rare in Physics. One just should look at the who...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of theoretical physics Vol. 50; no. 11; pp. 3602 - 3609
Main Authors Ristić, V. M., Radulović, M. M., Miladinović, T. B.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Boston Springer US 01.11.2011
Subjects
Elementary Particles
Mathematical and Computational Physics
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Quantum Field Theory
Quantum Physics
Theoretical
Noether’s theorem
Conservation laws
Decoherence
Stern-Gerlach experiment
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Summary:In this paper we suggest that theories treating two interacting objects in a different manner (for instance electromagnetic field of a laser classically, and the interacting atom as a quantum object) should be called “mixed”. Mixed theories are not so rare in Physics. One just should look at the whole area of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics in which mixed theories are often used, and, also, theories including quantum object interacting with classical surroundings that are the subject of our present discussion: the field of Quantum decoherence, when applied to resolving the dilemma should classical trajectories be used in explaining the Stern-Gerlach experiment or not. Consequently we are proving one improved corollary to Noether’s theorem, stating that mixed theories are not supporting the law of conservation of angular momentum and spin, as they are not based on the isotropy of space-time.
ISSN:0020-7748
1572-9575
DOI:10.1007/s10773-011-0867-y